i agree, that man must be very mentally sound going through all that time just observing life around him. i feel so sorry he missed out on the very
prime of his years.
i believe this happend to him for a reason, hes has a great purpose just as we all do.

To say the least. Oh the agony of lying there unable to communicate that you are there must have been heart breaking. I think i would quickly have
given up hope - a hell of a lot quicker than 23 years that's for sure.

Wow.

Hey,

But even if you gave up hope, what could you do about it? You could not kill yourself or communicate that you wanted to die. You just had to
persist. That must have been torture. Especially seeing loved ones visit you and the things they said in his ear but he could hear every word!
Then imagine what it was like after year two when the family didn't come so frequently. Then year five it is once a year.
Then year ten they never come back!

Not sure this happened but it is possible something to this effect happened. That must have been agonising!

Also, I do hope that somebody will take the time to interview this man in detail, to find out just what it was like, to let the world know what this
experience is truly like, so that it might spurn people to seek out others who are in this situation and try to help them "come back to the world of
the living."

I don't know how to live trough this hell
Woken up, I'm still locked in this shell
Frozen soul, frozen down to the core
Break the ice, I can't take anymore

Freezing
Can't move at all
Screaming
Can't hear my call
I am dying to live
Cry out
I'm trapped under the ice

Crystallized, as I lay here and rest
Eyes of glass stare directly at death
From deep sleep I have broken away
No one knows, no one hears what I say

Freezing
Can't move at all
Screaming
Can't hear my call
I am dying to live
Cry out
I'm trapped under the ice

Scream from my soul
Fate, mystified
Hell, forever more
No release from my cryonic state
What is this? I've been stricken by fate
Wrapped up tight, cannot move, can't break free
Hand of doom has a tight grip on me

Freezing
Can't move at all
Screaming
Can't hear my call
I am dying to live
Cry out
I'm trapped under the ice

Late last year, a man named Rom Houben recovered from a coma. This was not a particularly noteworthy event, except that Houben had been in what
doctors call a “persistent vegetative state” since 1983. Yet in 2006, a brain scan revealed that his brain was far more active than previously
believed—despite his body being unable to move.

Houben’s (partial) recovery surprised and intrigued many in the medical community, but what made it all the more amazing was that he gave an
interview in the German newspaper Der Spiegel about his life as a victim of “locked in syndrome.”

Because Houben remains paralyzed, his account was written with the help of his speech therapist, Linda Wouters, who guided his fingers to a
specially-made keyboard. Wouters said that Houbens told her which letters to type with subtle twitches of his finger.

Houben’s unique and inspiring story in Der Spiegelwas a huge success, and he planned to work with Wouters to write a full-length book about his
experiences, in the same vein as Jean-Dominique Bauby, a previous patient with the same condition who wrote a book that the film The Diving Bell and
the Butterfly was based upon.

But was Wouters helping Houben type, or typing for him? This technique, called facilitated communication, was used in the 1980s and 1990s to help
autistic children and others with limited communication abilities but was later proven bogus.

At first, Houbens’s neurologist, Steven Laureys, insisted that his tests showed it was Houben, not Wouters, who was typing the man’s words. Still,
questions remained, and upon further testing Laureys reversed himself and concluded that Houben’s words had not been his own. Tests conclusively
proved this: For example, in one test Houben was shown a series of objects and words for him to identify without his speech therapist present. When
his therapist came into the room, he was asked to type the words he had seen moments earlier. The therapist had no way of knowing what the words were,
and Houben could not type a single one.

Wouters had (presumably unwittingly) created Houben’s story out of thin air; she had written what she thought he would say, probably believing the
words and ideas were coming not from herself, but from him. Thus all the words, the Der Spiegel interview were all fictional—as would be his
book.

In a study certain to rekindle debate over switch off life support machines for those with grievous brain injuries, researchers report that five
out of 54 patients thought to be in a persistent vegetative state showed brain activity indicating awareness, intent and, in at least one case, a wish
to communicate.

One of those patients — a 22-year-old man who had been unresponsive for five years after an automobile crash — went on to respond to a series of
simple questions with brain activity that clearly indicated yes or no answers, researchers said.

The Above Top Secret Web site is a wholly owned social content community of The Above Network, LLC.

This content community relies on user-generated content from our member contributors. The opinions of our members are not those of site ownership who maintains strict editorial agnosticism and simply provides a collaborative venue for free expression.